Stop Unconstitutional Proselytizing

If it were up to me, I would want to see Christ everywhere, but not the way He has been used. I want to see Him reflected in the way we act and treat each other. I want the love of God, the way we were told by Christ He loved us to be reflected in all we do for the sake of someone else. I want to see Him the way other people manage to forgive someone even though everyone tells them they are wrong to forgive. I want to see Him when I look into someone's eyes and see love there. I want to see Him when I see people looking for nothing in return other than the feeling they get back when they do.

To have what's been going on happening is not about Christ. It is about something much deeper. There is nothing wrong with Chaplains being of on denomination or another and holding to their beliefs but there is something wrong when the spiritual needs of the men and women in the military are secondary to what the Chaplain wants. It's not their job to get converts but it is their job to be there for the spiritual needs of the troops.

Too many times I've heard Chaplains say they don't know anything about PTSD yet they are being asked to fill in for mental health professionals. This piece points this out and I can tell you that it is happening. While many of my friends say this is a Christian nation, none of them have managed to explain which Christian nation they believe it is. They think all Christians are alike until they actually sit down and talk to someone who happens to belong to a different denomination. A Presbyterian is different from a Methodist and different from a Baptist and they are different from Catholics and they are different from Orthodox. None of them agree on everything. So exactly what part would you want to see happen if one of your own kids was admonished for being part of the wrong Christian faith?

Let's say you were Catholic and there was an Evangelical Chaplain he had to go to see for a troubled soul. Would you want to hear that your son was sent away because he wouldn't put up with being told his faith was wrong? I doubt it. It's nice to live in a nation where there is a place for everyone. Where we can all walk into any church we want and decide for ourselves where we belong, or into a synagogue or a mosque. It's nice to think the troops have the same luxury but that's all that is. A thought. There are not enough Chaplains to go around anymore than there are mental health workers. The troops should not have to worry about being pushed away instead of helped. They shouldn't have to worry about being assaulted emotionally with a bible as a weapon to use against them.

I want to see more military chaplains and I want to see better ones but I want them to stop acting as if getting converts means more than saving the life of a soldier willing to lay down their lives for the sake of all others. Veterans for Common Sense is right on this issue and this practice needs to stop. These Chaplains deserve support and we should value their courage but to allow them to keep doing this is not serving the troops or Christ. This isn't even touching the fact that this nation was supposed to be about freedom of religion. In a perfect military there would be Chaplains from every walk so that all these men and women could be comforted by the faith of their own choosing. But that won't happen. They are no less deserving of comforting than any other no matter what faith they call their own and yes, no matter if they have no faith at all. Chaplains are supposed to have enough faith to be able to help everyone no matter what. Like I said, I'd like to see more of Christ in all of this when people are taken care of as people.

VCS and MRFF to Secretary Gates: Stop Unconstitutional Proselytizing
Written by VCS
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 15:27
Veterans for Common Sense and the Miltiary Religious Freedom Foundation sent the following letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, urging him to stop religious proselytizing, especially of mental health patients.

August 9, 2010

Dear Secretary Gates:

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has learned on numerous occasions over the past several years about blatantly sectarian Christian religious programs and Christian proselytizing in the military. The proselytizing is unconstitutional and we demand you issue an order to stop it now.

Our letter addresses a particularly pernicious subcategory of proselytizing that must also cease immediately. The military often substitutes evangelical chaplains in the place of professional mental health care for service members suffering from mental health conditions, especially post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These reports have recently become increasingly frequent and alarming.

Among the many types of shocking incidents and illicit and dehumanizing practices reported to MRFF have been the military's teaching of creationism as an actual bona fide means of suicide prevention; the use of a parachurch military ministry's evangelical Christian program to treat PTSD; service members seeking help being sent to and proselytized by chaplains instead of being sent to mental health professionals; articles in official military publications stating that finding Jesus if the only solution to the mental health problems faced by members of our armed forces; mandatory mental health training inside chapels, plus countless "Spiritual Fitness" events and programs being promoted as mental health solutions.

Perhaps the most alarmingly repugnant stories are those coming in from our recent war veterans regarding the widespread practice of "battlefield Christian proselytizing." When, on active duty, our service members sought urgently needed mental health counseling while on the battlefield and with the gun smoke practically still in their faces, they were instead sent to evangelizing chaplains, who are apparently being used with increasing frequency to provide mental health care due to the acute shortage of mental health professionals. Chaplains are not certified, professional mental health experts.

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Stop Unconstitutional Proselytizing